Winded City Spent after fending off the Pacers, Michael Jordan and the Bulls must dig even deeper in the Finals to beat the rested and ready Jazz

Their toughest opponents have always been the ones they couldnot see or touch. Age and fatigue and even the weight of theirown legend are joining forces against the Chicago Bulls now,pounding away at them like waves, slowly eroding what they havebuilt. This is no Last Dance, as coach Phil Jackson likes tocall what might be this team's final run together. Last dancesare wistful pleasures; this is more like the Last Lap, and theBulls are the tiring distance runner, straining for the finishline as the footsteps behind them grow louder.

Don't be fooled by their 88-83 victory over the Indiana Pacersin Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals at the United Centeron Sunday. The Bulls certainly weren't. The prevailing emotionin their locker room afterward was not jubilation but reliefmixed with a touch of apprehension. The Bulls were hoping theUtah Jazz was more rusty than rested after having had 10 daysoff before Wednesday's NBA Finals opener at the Delta Center.But more likely Utah was simply emboldened by its home courtadvantage, its two-game regular-season sweep of the Bulls andthe knowledge that it pushed Chicago to six hard-fought gamesbefore bowing in last season's Finals. The sight of MichaelJordan, 35, bent over and tugging on his shorts in the lastseconds of Sunday's game, with the outcome assured, wassymbolic: The Bulls were victorious but spent.

If the valiant Pacers did nothing else, they succeeded insweeping away any air of invincibility that the five-timechampion Bulls had left. "I believe they are more vulnerable,"Indiana center Rik Smits said after Game 7. "They've shown itnot only against us but also against other teams. They showed ittoday." The Bulls couldn't disagree. "Have we lost a little bitof our swagger? Probably," Jordan admitted. "It's hard whenyou're playing against the high standards we've set forourselves. But we're still the champions. No one has takenanything away from us yet."

The Jazz, however, is poised to do just that. Utah poses a moredifficult challenge than any Chicago has faced in its previousfive Finals, because in addition to having the home courtadvantage, the Jazz is a deeper team and it is the first club toplay the Bulls for the title twice. The mental edge Chicago hashad in previous Finals--the awe factor, Jordan calls it--shouldbe nonexistent.

Even before the Utah players knew who they would face in theFinals, they felt that last year's experience, when they reachedthe championship series for the first time, would make themmentally tougher this year. "Last year we got that monkey offour backs by reaching the Finals," Utah guard Jeff Hornaceksays. "It was such a major hurdle, one the Jazz had never gottenover. This year it's no big celebration. We know it's justanother step on the way to what we're trying to do. It's notsomething we haven't done before."

While the Jazz seems more prepared for the Finals than lastseason, the Bulls appear less so. Clearly, Chicago is not theteam of even a year ago, a club that considered itself sosuperior to the rest of the playoff field that it was moreconcerned with maintaining a high level of excellence than withthe challenge offered by any given opponent. Whereas the oldBulls could overcome anything--rough defensive tactics,questionable calls, hostile crowds on the road--by simply goingabout their business, these Bulls are testy, perhaps becausethey sense their own vulnerability. They have to play the gamethe same way as everyone else now, looking for any littleadvantage, even trying to influence the referees through themedia.

During the conference finals the Bulls stepped slightly out ofcharacter by constantly criticizing the officiating. They havegriped about referees before, usually when they were gettingassaulted by the New York Knicks or the Miami Heat in playoffspast, but their complaints then were almost always limited to asarcastic comment or two from Jackson, not the kind of tiradesthat marked the Indiana series. Such outbursts are an indicationthat the Bulls can no longer afford to be above the fray.

In fact, officiating could be a prominent factor in the Finals,because the Bulls and Jazz test referees' discretion as much asany teams in the league. The Jazz offense relies heavily onscreens, not merely by 6'9", 256-pound forward Karl Malone andother big men on the pick-and-roll, but from the guards,particularly Hornacek and John Stockton, who set picks along thebaseline. Utah is often accused of setting those screensillegally, and it won't be a surprise if Chicago joins thatchorus. On the other hand the Jazz, like every other team in theleague, will charge that Jordan is protected by the referees, onoffense and defense.

Jackson began lobbying the officials for foul calls in the Utahseries even before the Bulls had dispatched the Pacers. "We'regoing into a series where Malone knows how to do things thatcreate [foul] calls," Jackson said on the day before Game 7."Stockton knows how to do things--coming off screens, goingthrough the lane--that create foul calls. It's a floppinggesture. Michael has never played like that, where he flops,asks for fouls, acts out a foul situation."

However, the Bulls would be wise to worry more about the Jazzbench than the refs. Utah doesn't have reserves who can causethe kind of matchup problems that quick Indiana guards JalenRose and Travis Best did, but in swingman Shandon Anderson,forward Antoine Carr, point guard Howard Eisley and center GregOstertag, the Jazz has productive subs who can play for longstretches and wear down the Bulls. With the exception offorward-guard Toni Kukoc, who will probably return to hissixth-man role after starting six games of the Indiana series,Chicago does not have that depth. Thus the 36-year-old Stocktonand the 34-year-old Malone should not be as fatigued at the endof games as Jordan and Pippen, 32, and the longer the seriesgoes, the more Utah's superior bench could be a factor.

The Bulls could be particularly hurt by their lack of options upfront, where Malone is a more dangerous low-post scoring threatthan anyone the Pacers had to offer. In the Finals last season,Chicago center Luc Longley and forward Dennis Rodman had theirhands full against Malone, and both are coming off lacklusterperformances against Indiana. Smits made 14 of 19 shots in thefinal two games of the series, most of them against Longley.Rodman, who wasn't thrilled to serve as a sixth man, wasstrangely subdued throughout the series, averaging only 9.9rebounds compared with his league-leading 15.0 during theregular season. "We're not that concerned," Jackson said afterGame 7. "Dennis has been struggling coming off the bench. He'llhave a different role in this next series. It will be his turnto shine."

The Bulls need a rejuvenated Rodman because they don't have theinsurance policy for him that they had last year, when 6'11"Brian Williams was instrumental in their championship run. Afree agent after last season, Williams signed with the DetroitPistons. Also, in February the Bulls traded 6'8" power forwardJason Caffey to the Golden State Warriors for forward DavidVaughn, whom they later waived. The result is, if Longley andRodman can't handle Malone, or if they get into fouldifficulties, the Bulls are in deep trouble. "I told Toni that Iwas going to put him on Malone," Jackson said of the slender6'11" Kukoc, who's not known for his rugged defense. "But thatwas just sadistic humor on my part."

Of course, Chicago still has the ultimate weapon in Jordan, whowill face a rotation of defenders, including Hornacek, Andersonand likely starting small forward Bryon Russell. The Bulls alsohave a withering defense, which essentially won Game 7 againstIndiana by shutting down the Pacers in the fourth quarter.Indiana scored only 18 points in the period--none by offensivemiracle worker Reggie Miller, whom Jordan limited to one shot."Our defense is the thing that has never really failed us," saidPippen, whose shackling of Pacers point guard Mark Jackson waspivotal in the Bulls' victories. "If we play that kind ofdefense against Utah, I think we'll be all right."

Turning up the defense to take games away in the fourth quarterhas become Chicago's trademark, but if any team seems capable ofwithstanding that defensive pressure, it is Utah. With Stocktonat the controls of the league's most efficient offense, the Jazzwill not be easily rattled. "What makes them so great is thatthey get a good shot virtually every time down the floor," saysBulls guard Steve Kerr. "If you watch us play, you see that'snot the case. Too often, we end up with Michael or Scottiehaving to create something with the shot clock running down. Ouroffense has to be more precise, because we know that theirs willbe."

The 6'7" Pippen doesn't expect to guard the 6'1" Stockton in theFinals because the Utah point guard is quicker and doesn't tryto score in the low post the way Mark Jackson does. The key taskof controlling Stockton will fall to 6'6" guard Ron Harper, whoin past playoff series has made life difficult for point guardsGary Payton (Seattle SuperSonics), Rod Strickland (WashingtonWizards) and Tim Hardaway (Miami Heat).

Utah can expect Harper to be the same subtle but unyieldingforce that he was against the Pacers. While Jordan and Pippenare routinely spectacular and Rodman grabs rebounds andattention, Harper fills in all the cracks. He is often asked toshut down the opponent's best backcourt scorer and to takeadvantage of a defense that slacks off him, as he did with 15points against the Pacers in Chicago's 85-79 win in Game 1. "Ronis the unsung hero of this team," says Pippen, Harper's closestfriend on the Bulls.

Harper's locker-room contribution is often underestimatedbecause the Bulls' demeanor is generally thought to be drawnfrom their four most prominent personalities. Jackson is thespiritual one, Jordan is the passionate one, Pippen is thecoolly detached one and Rodman is the wild one. But Harper, thelighthearted one, is a behind-the-scenes leader.

It was Harper, 34, who joked about secretly attending theIndianapolis 500 the day after the 107-105 loss to the Pacers inGame 3, despite Jackson's orders for the players to stay awayfrom the race. "We should all sneak over there," Harper said."We'd probably get there and find Phil sitting in a luxury box."It was his way of saying that he wasn't shaken by the defeat,and the rest of the team shouldn't be, either. Harper isprobably the most popular player among his teammates, the bridgebetween the stars and the supporting cast. He has been acceptedinto Jordan's inner circle--he, Pippen and Jordan work outtogether at Jordan's home several times a week--but the roleplayers still consider him one of them. "Ron is the guy whohelps keep everybody loose," says Jackson. "But at the same timehe's respected for his dependability. He's willing to do some ofthe thankless tasks on this team."

It's easy to get the impression that Harper doesn't takeanything seriously, but he does. He closely studied tapes ofMiller for days before the Pacers series, and it was in one ofhis sessions with Jordan and Pippen that the plan for Pippen todefend Mark Jackson was hatched. "When these start to go," hesaid after Game 3, pointing to his legs, "you have to startusing this." He pointed to his head. Harper will also try to usehis arms against Stockton. One of the keys to Chicago's defenseis the wingspans of perimeter defenders Harper, Jordan andPippen, who will try to make the passing angles difficult forStockton.

As for Utah, Malone has to be a dominant force inside, the Jazzhas to avoid making the turnovers that feed the Bulls' offense,and the Utah defenders must be prepared to help the poor soulwho guards Jordan. In the end that last task may be the mostimportant for Utah. The Bulls' history suggests Jordan will finda way to bring another championship to Chicago, but they mayhave finally run into the team to whom that history meansnothing. Unless the Bulls can somehow win the series in fivegames or less--a long shot--the championship will be won in theDelta Center, and it is hard to imagine the Jazz allowing evenJordan to walk away a winner there. The feeling here is thatUtah's players are ready to make some history of their own, andthat they will do so in seven games.

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN BIEVER COVER The Last Stand [Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan]COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN BIEVER [Scottie Pippen, Antonio Davis, Chris Mullin on basketball court and Michael Jordan bending over on sideline]TWO COLOR PHOTOS: PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN BIEVER GET A GRIP The Bulls will need inspired play and more rebounds from Rodman (opposite, wrestling Dale Davis), while the steady Harper (above, shooting) must shackle Stockton. [Dennis Rodman and Dale Davis in game; Dennis Rodman, Mark Jackson, Ron Harper and Antonio Davis in game]COLOR PHOTO: MANNY MILLAN BREATHLESS Against Utah, the Bulls must help Jordan avoid expending too much energy, as he did in the taut Game 7. [Michael Jordan struggling for basketball with two Indiana Pacers players]

COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN BIEVER ROLE CHANGE A key starter against Indiana, Kukoc, who had 21 points in the finale, will bring in firepower off the bench against Utah. [Toni Kukoc passing basketball in game]

"Have we lost a bit of our swagger? Probably," Jordan admittedafter Game 7.

Turning up the defense to take games away in the fourth quarterhas become Chicago's trademark.